Extreme Ghostbusters Virtual Season Episode 12 - A Clash of Symbols
by J-R Virtual Seasons
Summary: November 1998: Eduardo is keen to avoid Kylie after their Halloween mishaps, but they are forced to work together the next morning when a demonic disturbance occurs at the Day of the Dead celebration. As the case goes on into the night, Eduardo is not keen to talk, but Kylie can see that his thoughts are running deep.
1. Chapter 1

A girl of about ten was sitting in the middle of her living room floor, looking through a photograph album, while an old man stood in front of a full-length mirror and tried to put on a bow tie.

' _Madre mia_...' he muttered irritably, as his fingers fumbled with the complicated thing.

'There are so many great pictures of Yaya Juanita,' said the girl. 'Help me pick, Abue.'

'Why does it matter?' said the old man. 'It won't make any difference to her now.'

'Papa!' said a woman, presumably the girl's mother, appearing in the doorway. 'Don't.'

The old man looked grumpy for a moment. Then his expression softened, and he made his way over to his granddaughter, saying, 'All right, Ana, let's see here. I'll tell you something, _querida_ : you didn't really know your _abuela_ if you didn't know her when she was young.'

'Don't say that,' said an adolescent boy who was mooching into the room. ' _I_ knew her. You can't tell me I didn't.'

'I didn't mean that, Jandro,' said his grandfather.

'Why can't you cheer up, anyway?' said Ana. 'She'll come back tomorrow and see us.'

'Do you really believe that?' asked Jandro.

'Of course.' Ana looked appealingly at her mother. 'That's why we're going, isn't it? Because we believe she's still with us?'

'Of course, _tesorita_ ,' smiled her mother.

'We should go tomorrow, then,' said Jandro. 'That's the _actual_ Day of the stupid Dead, isn't it?'

'Young man, you are going to school tomorrow,' his mother said. 'Now come on, let's go. Ana, honey, please just pick one. Where's your father?'

'Maybe he's hiding,' said Jandro. 'Maybe he knows it's a crock.'

'Alejandro!' snapped the mother. 'You can stop that, or you can stay behind.'

'Then I'll stay behind.'

'You will not,' said his grandfather, shepherding Jandro towards the door. 'We're going as a family, so get your ungrateful butt out that door, you hear?'

'Papa, be nice,' said the mother. 'Jandro, _querido_ , I didn't mean that. You have to come.'

'I _have_ to, do I?' said Jandro. 'All right, I will. If Ana can pick a stupid picture already!'

'It's important to pick the right one!' his sister protested.

'Any picture will do! Come _on_!'

So saying, Jandro marched over to Ana and made a grab at the photograph album. She pulled it out of his reach, hunched over it and plucked out a photograph. Then, with a dignified expression, she followed her mother and grandfather to the front door.

Jandro remained behind to give a lingering glance to the photograph album, then followed Ana with his hands in his pockets.

* * *

'Oh, hi,' said Garrett, as Kylie and Roland wandered into the firehouse lounge, both looking tired and disgruntled. 'How was Connecticut?'

'Dark,' said Kylie. 'Anyway, we spent the whole time in the police station waiting for them to let Roland have his sister back. It wasn't supposed to be a vacation, Garrett.'

'Too bad,' said Garrett. 'I thought you'd like it there, Ky. Aren't all those New England houses supposed to be haunted?'

'I'm not morbid,' Kylie snapped.

'Um, sorry,' said Garrett.

'Where's Eduardo?' asked Roland.

'I don't know,' said Garrett. 'Off somewhere avoiding Kylie, probably.'

Kylie glared at him a moment, then stalked off towards the kitchen. Roland stayed where he was, but he glared at Garrett all the same.

'What?' Garrett asked innocently. 'It's what we were all thinking, isn't it?'

'He probably just has a class,' said Roland.

'It's Sunday.'

'Oh... yeah.'

'Oh come on, Roland, spill! Something happened last night, didn't it? That's why Kylie wanted to go to Connecticut with you – to get away. What did she tell you?'

'She didn't tell me anything.'

'It has to have something to do with her being dressed as Buffy for Halloween,' Garrett persisted. 'That was obviously for Eduardo's benefit. I heard he was a werewolf for a few minutes, but I can't see the connection. Are you sure Kylie didn't tell you _anything_?'

'If she did,' said Roland, 'it would have been in confidence, wouldn't it?'

'Oh, come on!' said Garrett. 'You can't just –'

'Turn on Channel Eight!' Janine said urgently, appearing at the top of the stairs.

'Why?' asked Garrett.

'Because there's something you need to see, of course!'

Janine then carried on up to the top floor, and Roland turned on the television. The Channel Eight news was showing a lot of noise and ruckus that brought Kylie back into the room. In the background of the shot, people were running and screaming, while a bosomy reporter in the foreground said gravely, 'People were certainly not expecting this when they left their homes this afternoon to come here and celebrate their departed loved ones. Let's see if we can get some first-hand accounts of what is happening here, shall we? Excuse me, sir...'

'Get outta here, lady!' a terrified man cried, pushing the microphone away from his face and running out of shot.

'What's happening?' asked Egon, as he came down the stairs with Janine.

'We can't exactly tell,' said Roland.

'There's some kind of monster terrorising the Day of the Dead festival,' said Janine. 'Oh, look, there it is.'

On the television screen, a twenty-foot person hove into view. This person was clearly female, as she was wearing a long and elegant dress, and an ostentatious hat.

'I think this must be the monster everyone's talking about,' said the reporter, turning slightly away from the camera for a better look. 'Yes... yes, I think this is it.'

'What the heck is it – the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?' asked Garrett.

'No,' said Kylie, 'it's _la Calavera Catrina_.'

' _La_ what?' asked Garrett.

' _La Calavera Catrina_. It means the Elegant Skull. Right, Egon?'

'I believe so,' said Egon.

'So who is she?' asked Garrett.

'No one,' said Kylie. 'She's just a symbol for the Day of the Dead... a _memento mori_.'

'A what?'

'A reminder of mortality,' said Egon, 'but let's not discuss that now. We'd better get to the festival and deal with her. I'll come along with you, as we're one short today. I don't suppose anyone knows where Eduardo is?'

Roland, Garrett and Kylie shook their heads.

'I do,' said Janine. 'He's at the festival.'

Egon looked surprised. 'Did he call and tell you that?'

'Yes.'

'When?'

'A few minutes ago. He was calling about the monster.'

'I see,' said Egon. 'That's odd. He told me he wanted tomorrow off, but not today.'

'It's because he's hiding,' said Garrett.

'Hardly,' said Kylie, 'since we know where he is. Now let's stop talking and get going, shall we?'

* * *

When the Ecto-1 arrived on the scene, things were a lot quieter than they had been when the news crew was filming.

'Looks like most people have left,' said Roland, who was driving.

'All except the idiots,' said Garrett. 'Why doesn't everyone just go home?'

People were valiantly defending their market stalls and bandstands as the gigantic, gowned skeleton lumbered down the street. These people were throwing things at her – anything they could lay their hands on – and they bounced off her without producing any reaction at all. She walked steadily on, looking searchingly around her, stopping when something caught her interest. At one point she stooped and picked up a marquee, examined it, then threw it away contemptuously.

The Ghostbusters piled out of the car, just in time to see Eduardo approaching them at a run.

'Egon!' he said, as he skidded to a halt. 'What's happening?'

'I don't know,' said Egon.

'Here, Eduardo,' said Roland, holding out a proton pack.

'Ugh.' Eduardo strapped the device onto his back with clear reluctance. 'I don't wanna shoot her.'

'Are you crazy?' said Garrett. 'This chick _needs_ to be shot!'

'It seems like she's looking for something,' said Kylie, as the giant skeleton began rifling through a collection of paper craft items.

'Well, let's not give her a chance to find it,' said Garrett. 'On three.'

'THREE!' yelled everyone except Eduardo, and four proton guns fired. The skeleton's gown caught fire, just as if it were made of paper. Curling and blackening all over, she carried on down the street, not caring in the least that she was burning. People screamed and leapt out of her path.

'She's made out of paper, Egon!' said Eduardo. 'She's one of those arts and crafts ones that somebody's made!'

'They make 'em that big?' asked Garrett.

'Of course not, man!' Eduardo said shrilly.

'Fascinating,' said Egon. 'Well, first things first – we'd better try to put her out.'

'I'm calling the fire department,' said Roland, whipping out his cell phone. 'We can't put that out with our one little fire extinguisher.'

'How can she keep going?' asked Kylie, as the paper dress burned away to nothing, and the skeletal torso began to smoulder.

'She'll set the whole street alight!' said Garrett. 'Look, she's heading for that, um...'

'It's an altar,' said Eduardo. 'She's heading for the altar! Hey! Don't touch that! _No toque que_!'

Unsurprisingly, the creature took no notice whatsoever, but carried on her relentless march towards the altar. Eduardo ran out ahead of her and placed himself in front of the collection of pictures, flowers and food items, standing dead centre and spreading himself out as far as he could.

'EDUARDO!' Kylie screamed, as one of the skeleton's legs suddenly burned away from her body, and she collapsed in a fiery heap.

Eduardo caught a mouthful of smoke, but jumped aside in time to avoid an onslaught of flames. Even so, he didn't go far, but instead stood coughing into his jacket and asking through smoke-induced tears, 'What's gotten into you?'

'What's gotten into _you_?' said Kylie, appearing through the smoke and grabbing Eduardo's arm. She dragged him away from the danger zone.

'You're an idiot!' she said, once they were back with the other Ghostbusters.

'Kylie has a point there, Eduardo,' said Egon. 'Don't do that again, please.'

'Just what is happening here?' Eduardo demanded. 'Why is a paper _Calavera Catrina_ destroying the festival?'

'The paper is almost certainly protecting some kind of supernatural entity,' said Egon. 'I should think a fire caused by our proton streams would cause it some distress, but it seems to be persevering, doesn't it?'

At that point a couple of fire engines screeched round the corner; some fire fighters jumped out and started fighting the fire, which had spread incredibly quickly.

'Why would she do that to the altar?' Eduardo asked weakly.

'Did she _want_ to light it on fire?' asked Garrett.

'Who knows?' said Egon. 'Let's see if we can trap the entity before it escapes. Then whatever it was trying to do won't matter in the slightest.'

The five Ghostbusters started making their way towards the altar, but Eduardo only managed to take one step before he felt himself pulled back by a strong hand on his shoulder. He turned round, and didn't look at all surprised to see his brother.

'What have you done now?' Carl demanded.

'I didn't do _that_ ,' Eduardo said petulantly, jerking out of his brother's grip and gesturing at the altar.

'Are you sure about that? I heard on the police radio that you people started the fire.'

'Yeah, well, if you really wanna know, I was the only one not firing.'

Carl's scowl deepened. 'Why the heck not?'

'I can't win with you, can I?'

As Eduardo said this, the other Ghostbusters reappeared at his side. Eduardo looked at them, and then at the trap hanging limply from Kylie's left hand.

'Trap's empty,' he remarked.

'Yeah,' said Garrett. 'It's gone, and the fire chief wouldn't let us get close enough to start tracking it.'

'What do you mean it's gone?' barked Carl. 'What is it, anyway? What's it doing here?'

'Lay off, Carlos,' said Eduardo, stepping between his brother and Garrett. 'We'll handle it.'

'I'm sorry about the altar, Eduardo,' said Egon.

'Not your fault, man,' said Eduardo. 'Anyway, it's just an altar. It's not alive or anything.'

'What are you people going to do now?' Carl demanded.

'Well,' said Egon, 'we'll just have to try to track the entity without the cooperation of the fire department.'

* * *

It was dark when the Ecto-1 pulled into the firehouse. Janine was locking up a filing cabinet while Slimer tidied papers on her desk, humming and dripping as he worked.

'Hi,' Janine said. 'I was starting to worry about you. Roland, someone dropped off your car while you were out – I'm supposed to tell you he wants paying by Wednesday. So what took you guys so long?'

'Nothing,' Garrett said irritably. 'We spent the whole afternoon on a wild goose chase. Whatever that was, it's just... gone home.'

'Where's home?' asked Janine.

'I don't know,' said Garrett. 'Another dimension, probably.'

'I don't know about that, Garrett,' said Egon. 'Why would it come here for one afternoon just to disrupt the Day of the Dead festival? That does seem to be all it's achieved so far.'

'The festival will carry on tomorrow,' said Kylie. 'Maybe it'll show up again.'

'Perhaps,' said Egon, 'and perhaps not. I think I'll go up to the lab to see if I can come up with a more educated guess.'

'Egon,' said Janine, 'you're not staying up all night working. If it's gone, at least for the time being, what's the rush? Come home with me and have some dinner.'

'I just want to make a start,' said Egon. 'You go now, Janine, and I'll join you in an hour or so.'

'No,' said Janine. 'If you're staying, I'm staying. I'll go get us some Chinese food or something.'

'What are you gonna be looking for?' Eduardo asked, not sounding particularly interested.

'Any history of similar events,' said Egon, 'and obviously I'll run our readings through the system.'

'Who needs a lift home?' asked Roland, who was already climbing into his newly repaired car.

'I do,' said Garrett.

'Is it okay if I stay?' asked Eduardo. 'I'll go get the Chinese food if you want.'

'You don't have to do that, Eduardo,' said Egon.

'I don't mind,' said Eduardo.

'Well, if you insist,' Janine said, rummaging around in one of the filing cabinets. 'Just let me see how much petty cash is left.'

'Enough for four?' asked Kylie.

* * *

The clock showed that it was coming up to midnight. Egon was still in his lab, tapping away at his computer keyboard, when Janine came in looking grumpy.

'Egon,' she said, 'you've been at this all night. If you were going to find something, you would have by now.'

'As it happens,' said Egon, 'I might have found something just now. Then again, I might not have.'

'What is it?' asked Janine.

'It's a record of a similar disturbance, referenced in the writings of an obscure Roman scribe living in Alexandria, Egypt in the late First Century AD. Egypt was a Roman province then, as you may know. The event occurred during Lemuria, when the Roman people used to hold a feast and observe rituals to appease the spirits of their ancestors. It's said that Romulus started the tradition to appease Remus's spirit, but we can't be sure about that. It was an idea born of fear rather than celebration, but you can see the similarities between this ritual and the Day of the Dead, can't you?'

'Sure I can,' said Janine. 'What happened?'

'The ceremony was disturbed by a stone she-wolf growing to a very large size and terrorising the people,' Egon went on. 'The she-wolf was held in high esteem by the Romans, and their Etruscan ancestors before them, hence her part in the Romulus and Remus legend, most likely. The statue depicted a Roman symbol in Egyptian granite. Perhaps it was made specifically for the festival.'

'Like that Catrina person this afternoon.'

'Precisely. According to my source, the wolf ended up eating all of the black beans that people scattered throughout their houses in order to appease the spirits. And our _Calavera Catrina_ , if you remember, burned down the altar. That was largely our fault, I do admit, but if she intended to destroy it all along then perhaps we needn't blame ourselves too much.'

'So what now?' asked Janine. 'You think the same thing'll happen as when the wolf ate the beans?'

Egon, adjusting his glasses and frowning at the computer screen, said, 'I certainly hope not.'

* * *

Kylie was sitting on the couch with a pile of books beside her, and one in her lap, when Eduardo came down the spiral staircase. He tried to sneak into the kitchen without her noticing him, but he didn't manage it.

'There you are,' Kylie said. 'I was hoping I could tell you I'd found something, but I don't think any of this stuff is really useful. I've just been reading about this Aztec goddess of death called Mic... um...' She squinted at the text. 'Mic...tec...aci...huatl. She's sometimes associated with _la Calavera Catrina_ these days, right?'

'You can't blame _la Calavera Catrina_ ,' said Eduardo, pronouncing the phrase much more elegantly than Kylie had done. 'She's just a symbol. She started out as a political cartoon or something, only about eighty years ago. She's not anybody... just a _memento mori_. And it's not the death goddess either. The Aztecs were worshipping her and honouring their ancestors for thousands of years before the Spanish came along, and she's still supposed to preside over the festival. Without destroying anything. It's supposed to be a celebration.'

'Yeah, I know. I don't think it's actually her or anything, but it's worth knowing all the background.'

'Okay, well, the modern-day festival is a hybrid of the Aztec stuff and All Souls' Day. The two were combined when the Spanish showed up, so the natives could still have their customs without them being too pagan and giving the Catholics a problem. Now it's mostly about death being a natural part of life. _La Calavera Catrina_ doesn't have to look like she did at the festival today, but she always has a stupid hat on to symbolise how death doesn't care if you're rich or poor. It's all just symbolic, and it's an important tradition. Whatever happened today, it was somebody or something that has nothing to with _Día de Muertos_. That's all I know.'

'You know everything, it sounds like,' said Kylie. 'I'm impressed. So how does the symbolism work for you, anyway, with your death phobia?'

'I'm gonna heat up some of those leftovers,' said Eduardo. 'You want any?'

'Okay, sure.' Kylie closed the book in her lap. 'Listen, Eduardo... can we talk about last night?'

'What? Why? There's nothing to talk about.'

Eduardo disappeared into the kitchen. Kylie sighed, stood up and began replacing the books on the shelves. When she heard the microwave ping, she went into the kitchen and accepted the Chinese takeaway carton that Eduardo was holding out to her.

'Y'know,' said Kylie, 'that just now was the first time you looked at me or talked to me since the altar fire. I don't want it to be awkward between us forever. I know the way last night turned out was kind of embarrassing... for both of us... but the whole costume thing –'

'That's why I never dress up as somebody else,' said Eduardo. 'Even if there's no magic spell or whatever, it still makes you drop your guard.'

'Well, what's wrong with dropping your guard every once in a while?'

'Look, can we just forget about it?'

'Really?' said Kylie. 'All of it?'

'We haven't all been to Connecticut to clear our heads, you know,' Eduardo mumbled, concentrating very hard on his food. 'You're the one who got out of here as fast as you could straight after.'

'I guess I was. So was there, um... something you wanted to say to me?'

'Not really,' said Eduardo, as the phones started ringing elsewhere in the building. 'Sounds like we'll have to go out in a minute. It won't be a personal call at this time.'

'Midnight,' said Kylie, glancing at the clock. 'November second. The Day of the Dead.'

The phone had stopped ringing. Kylie and Eduardo left the kitchen, and they met Egon coming down the stairs.

'Anything?' asked Kylie.

'It's too early to tell whether it's relevant,' said Egon, 'but I did find a reference to one similar incident. It happened in Egypt in the First Century AD. The occupying Romans were observing their own festival of the dead, when it was sabotaged by a symbolic artefact come to life.'

'That's not similar – it's exactly the same,' said Eduardo. 'What happened?'

Upstairs, the phone started ringing again.

'It was something bad,' said Egon. 'But there is absolutely no guarantee this is the same situation.'

'Egon,' said Eduardo. 'What happened?'

'Well,' Egon began, but then Janine appeared on the stairs.

'Egon,' she said, as the phone started ringing yet again. 'It's happening.'

* * *

Jandro was lying in bed in a darkened room, and Ana was sitting at his feet, flicking through the channels on a small television.

'Give it up, Ana,' Jandro said sleepily. 'You're not gonna find out anything.'

'Maybe you should let me have the TV in _my_ room,' said Ana.

'Fine,' said Jandro, turning over and putting the pillow over his head. 'Take it.'

'How come no one can explain what happened today?' asked Ana. 'Why doesn't somebody ask the Ghostbusters?'

'It doesn't matter,' Jandro's muffled voice came back to her. 'They dealt with it, didn't they?'

'Um.' Ana's expression had changed from irritation to blank amazement. 'Maybe not. Look at this!'

'Ugh.'

'I'm serious – look! Is that what I think it is?'

Jandro tossed the pillow away from him, sat up and looked blearily at the TV. Then suddenly he was wide awake. He stared at the screen, which was showing footage of a graveyard lit for television, and several people crawling across the ground.

'Oh no,' said Ana. 'It's that moron reporter again.'

'I can't quite believe what I'm seeing!' the moron reporter was saying. 'The reports of people rising from the grave appear to be true, at least here in this charming little Staten Island churchyard.'

'Get outta there, lady,' Jandro whispered, crawling to the end of the bed for a closer look.

'It appears,' the reporter's voice went on, 'that only _some_ of the graves –'

Suddenly she stopped. Sounds of struggle came from the television. Ana gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth. Jandro looked away. Then there came a rapping sound at the window.

'Jandro, what's that?' Ana whispered.

'I can't look,' Jandro whispered back, so Ana looked instead. Then she screamed.

'It's Yaya Juanita!' she said shrilly.

'You can't be serious,' said Jandro, looking at last, and seeing two deathly white hands clawing at the window.

'Yaya...' Jandro said, and he made a movement towards the window.

'Are you crazy?' screeched Ana, grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards the door. 'You saw what that zombie did to the reporter!'

'Did I?' said Jandro, glancing at the screen. The shot was now at an angle, and the reporter was lurching towards the horizon, her microphone trailing from her hand. 'Whoa. She's one of them!'

'Well, duh!' said Ana. 'We have to make sure there's no way they can get in.' Then she ran to the bedroom door, yelling, 'Mom! Dad! Abue!'

'What are calling _them_ for?' said Jandro, following his sister out of the room at a more sedate pace. 'They won't know what to do in a zombie apocalypse!'


	2. Chapter 2

Eduardo was on the roof, looking out into the darkness with his hands stuffed into his pockets, wearing his ghostbusting gear but apparently not about to leap into action. Sounds of screaming, faint but manifold, sounded across the night air.

The door opened, and Kylie stepped tentatively out onto the roof.

'Oh, good, you're ready to go,' she said. 'We're going to get Roland and Garrett in the car. All of us. Egon doesn't want to leave anyone here alone – not even Slimer.'

'Slimer's safe from them, isn't he?'

'Probably. But he's scared.'

Eduardo nodded in understanding. Then he said, 'How long have I been up here?'

'Don't you know?'

He shook his head.

'Well,' said Kylie, 'it's been long enough for us to get a couple of calls from people who don't speak a word of English. Can you speak fluent Spanish?'

'Yeah, I can.'

'Cool.' She couldn't help smiling slightly. 'I mean, we were hoping you could. Janine wants to record a message to tell callers we're dealing with the zombie situation, and not to kill the victims, and we thought it'd be a good idea to have it in both English and Spanish if we can.'

'Sure we can,' said Eduardo, making his way to the door. 'Are we really gonna be able to deal with it, though? I mean, the demon or whatever it was disappeared after it burnt down the altar.'

'Egon thinks that if it's controlling the zombies, it's probably still around somewhere. And if it's not, the zombies are, so we can at least cut the puppet strings.'

'That won't bring back the victims, will it?'

'No,' said Kylie, 'I guess not. We have to hope the puppet master's still around for that. Anyway, surely everyone knows to stay locked up inside, especially if they listened to the radio last night. Roland told me about your instructions for dealing with the Halloween zombies.'

'That was different,' said Eduardo. 'It was people dressed up as movie characters, and this ain't no movie. It's an actual zombie apocalypse. We'd better get going, hadn't we?'

'Well, hold on,' said Kylie, grabbing his arm as he passed her. 'Will you be okay?'

'Why wouldn't I be okay?'

'You had someone on the altar, didn't you?' she said gently.

Eduardo shrugged. 'That doesn't matter. It's just remains – they don't mean anything anymore.'

'Is that really how you feel?'

'It's really what I think. I know some people can't understand that... I mean, my brother can't...'

'I can understand it,' said Kylie. 'With Grandma Rose... well, I guess I _would_ be upset if she was a zombie. Your attitude is way better for dealing with this. But... you still needed to come up here.'

'I wasn't really thinking about the zombies,' said Eduardo. 'Come on, let's go.'

* * *

A short while later, Janine was driving the Ecto-1 with Egon next to her, and Kylie, Eduardo, Slimer and Roland in the back. They pulled up outside Garrett's apartment building, and Janine honked the horn.

'Egon,' said Kylie, as Garrett emerged from the building. 'What happened the last time, in Egypt? The zombies must have been dealt with somehow, or the whole of Africa would still be overrun.'

'Our Roman friend says that a priest performed a ritual and appeased the gods,' said Egon, 'so the dead returned to their graves. This priest fellow could have done absolutely anything. I suppose he hit upon the right words and/or gestures to put the entity into a state of dormancy. Hello, Garrett.'

'Hi,' said Garrett, as he settled himself in the car. 'What are you talking about?'

'This has happened before, Garrett,' said Kylie. 'In Roman Egypt.'

'Weird,' said Garrett. 'So why is it happening here?'

'And why now?' Roland added. 'It makes sense being the Day of the Dead, of course, but why _this_ Day of the Dead?'

'I can't say, Roland,' said Janine, 'but I _can_ think of how whatever's responsible might have gotten here. There's been an Egyptian monument in New York for over a hundred years now. Isn't there a pretty good chance that has something to do with it?'

'Yes,' Egon said thoughtfully. 'In fact, it was in Egyptian Alexandria for the last eighth of the First Century, so I'd be surprised if there was no connection at all. Good thinking, Janine.'

* * *

Carl Rivera was on the Brooklyn Bridge, zooming through gridlocked traffic on his police motorcycle. He stopped and dismounted when he came across a zombie trying to claw its way into somebody's car. He tasered the zombie into submission, then picked up the radio.

'I got another pick-up for you, Helen,' he said. 'I'm on the Brooklyn Bridge, but it's gridlocked. You'll have to bring... I don't know, a stretcher or something.'

'I'm on it, Carl,' the voice of Helen came back to him. 'Does it look like a fresh one to you?'

'Not really, but I don't see how we can be sure.'

'I guess we can't,' said Helen. 'If the Ghostbusters are right, and they can fix this, then I guess our victims are going to find themselves coming to in the cells with a bunch of corpses, huh?'

'What the heck do the Ghostbusters know?' said Carl. 'Any news on where that car of theirs has gotten to?'

'Yes, actually – it's been sighted in Park Avenue.'

'Good. I'm gonna try and catch up to them – find out if they _really_ have any idea what they're doing.'

He went zooming off on his motorcycle again, and soon came across an adolescent boy screaming and struggling in the clutches of a white-haired zombie. Carl brought his vehicle to a screeching halt, leapt off and tasered the zombie right in the neck.

'Whoa,' said the boy, who happened to be Jandro, as Carl helped him to his feet. 'Thanks, mister policeman. _Gracias, señor – muchas gracias_.'

'I can speak English,' barked Carl.

'Oh. Good.'

'What do you think you're doing out here by yourself? What's your name? Where do you live? I have to take you home. Are you all right?'

'I'm fine,' said Jandro, dusting himself off. 'Do you want to destroy her brain, just to be safe? She's not a victim – she was already dead.'

'How do you know that?'

'It's _mi abuela_.'

'Oh,' said Carl, his tone softening. 'Well, that sucks, kid. Now, come on – tell me your name.'

'You mustn't take me home,' said Jandro. 'I have to find the Ghostbusters. I've tried calling, tons of times, but they've just left this recorded message.'

'That's because they know what's happening, and they're dealing with it... so they say.'

'But you don't understand! I _have_ to speak to them! Look, what if you took me? That taser seems to work pretty good on the zombies.'

'Okay, kid, listen,' said Carl. 'Here's the deal. You tell me what you want to tell the Ghostbusters on the way to your house. If I think you really need to speak to them, I'll get your parents to agree to let me take you. I bet they don't know you're out here, do they?'

'No, sir,' said Jandro. 'But I only live two doors down.'

'Okay, good. Tell me fast, then – what do you know?'

* * *

Though the sirens were blaring, the Ecto-1 was moving at a crawl through traffic and zombies and people caught outside who were desperately trying to get in.

Inside the car, Roland hung up his cell phone and said, 'Well, there's some good news. No one seems to think there's a zombie apocalypse happening outside New York.'

'That _is_ good news,' said Egon. 'It makes me think the entity that started all this must still be nearby, and not too powerful, if it can only make zombies of the people in the local area. After all, not everyone on that altar can have been buried in New York.'

''Course not, man,' said Eduardo. 'My grandmother died on a trip to the Galapagos Islands, so she's buried in Ecuador or somewhere. My dad had a nightmare with the paperwork.'

'I'd love to see the Galapagos Islands,' said Kylie.

'Did your grandmother make it there before she died?' asked Roland.

'No,' said Eduardo, 'she died on board ship. But it was the ocean she was really interested in. She had this story about some Spanish ancestor of ours surviving a shipwreck round there.'

'Your ancestor's ship sank?' said Garrett, smirking. 'Was he the captain, by any chance?'

'He wasn't the _ship's_ captain,' said Eduardo. 'He was a military captain. They took him to help subdue the natives. I think maybe he wasn't a very nice guy.'

'I'm glad he survived, though,' said Kylie, with a smile. 'Did you have anyone else on the altar?'

'Yeah, a few people.'

'Guys, there's the Met,' Janine announced from the driver's seat. 'We're almost there.'

'So, is this really the right answer?' Garrett asked. 'I mean, do the timings work out?'

'What do you mean?' asked Roland.

'Well,' said Garrett, 'how old is that thing?'

'Way older than two thousand years,' said Kylie. 'It's from, like, fifteen hundred BC.'

'Fourteen hundred and fifty is the favoured estimate,' Egon chipped in. 'It was commissioned around that time by Pharaoh Thutmose the Third, I believe, in the city of Heliopolis. The inscriptions, mind you, came about two hundred years later on the order of Rameses the Second.'

'So... wait,' said Garrett. 'What does it have to do with Cleopatra? I thought she was way later than all that.'

'She was,' said Kylie. 'She lived in the First Century BC. The Needle actually has nothing to do with her. I think I heard they were named after the ship they came over on.'

'They?' said Garrett.

'It has a twin in London,' said Eduardo. 'Everybody knows that.'

'The obelisks that are now in London and New York,' said Egon, 'were moved out of Heliopolis and erected in the Caesareum in Alexandria, around the time of our demon's first recorded attack. It was after Cleopatra's death, but she had the Caesareum built in the first place, so that could account for the name.'

'What about the Paris one?' asked Roland. 'Does that have any link to Cleopatra?'

'That doesn't matter right now, Roland,' said Janine. 'We're here.'

The car stopped, and everyone looked out of the window at Cleopatra's Needle.

'No zombies here,' Roland remarked.

'The zombies are gravitating towards people, not stone,' said Egon, as he climbed cautiously out of the car, looking at his PKE meter as he did so. 'But there's something here all right.'

'Great!' said Garrett, wheeling his way down the ramp at the back of the car. 'Let's nuke it.'

As he spoke, Carl was approaching on his motorcycle, with Jandro clinging to his waist. Eduardo, getting out of the car, looked on with trepidation as Carl removed his helmet and came marching towards the group.

'What is the matter with you people?' he demanded. 'You can't leave your headquarters unmanned!'

'Hello, Carl,' Egon said pleasantly. 'This does have to be dealt with before anything else, you know.'

'Of course I know that!' said Carl. 'But what if somebody had information? You should have at least left them a number to call!'

'Well,' said Egon, 'I suppose that would have been a good idea. I'll do that next time.'

'You even brought _that_ thing?' Carl went on, when he saw Slimer cowering behind Janine, both of them still in the car.

'Do you want something?' asked Eduardo, stepping between his brother and the rest of the group. 'Or are you just here to hold us up?'

' _I_ want something,' said Jandro, appearing at Carl's side. 'I want to tell you to... well, to go to Cleopatra's Needle, actually. But I guess you already figured that out.'

'How did you know we needed to come here?' asked Egon.

'First things first, Egon,' said Roland, smiling warmly at Jandro. 'What's your name?'

'Jandro,' said Jandro, sidling past Eduardo and Carl, who were silently facing off against each other. 'And it's my fault this has happened.'

'What do you mean?' asked Kylie.

Jandro gestured helplessly towards the obelisk, and said, 'It talked to me. After my Yaya Juanita... my grandmother died, it said I could bring her back. I didn't know...'

'Of course you didn't,' Roland said gently. 'Tell us everything, Jandro.'

'There's not much else to tell,' Jandro shrugged. 'I came here on a school field trip. Well, we went to the Met, and I sneaked off at lunchtime because I wanted to be by myself. I was sad about my _yaya_... she only died that week. I sat down by the Needle... and it talked to me. It asked me why I was so sad, and all that stuff. Do you need to know everything we said to each other?'

'Not if you don't want us to,' said Egon. 'Just tell us how we ended up with the zombie situation.'

'I told it about the Day of the Dead,' said Jandro, 'and it told me to cast a spell when I put Yaya's picture on the altar. It said it would bring her back. I almost didn't do it... I _almost_ got my mom to say I had to stay at home... but then she said I had to go, and I couldn't help trying. I didn't really think anything would happen, and I _never_ thought of zombies. But listen, is this any use to you? I mean, you figured out where to come.'

'Jandro,' said Egon, 'your information could well prove invaluable. As far as I can tell, the entity is hiding _inside_ the obelisk, and we need to get it out. It is sometimes necessary for us to destroy things, but perhaps we can avoid blowing an ancient monument to pieces, _if_ you can remember how to summon that entity.'

'Well, I can,' said Jandro, and he fished a piece of paper out of his pocket. 'I wrote it down.'

* * *

Eduardo and Carl, meanwhile, had moved off from the rest of the group and were involved in a quiet yet unmistakably hostile exchange.

'How many times have I told you?' Carl was saying. 'His picture has no place on that altar!'

'Right,' said Eduardo, 'because obviously _this_ was sure to happen!'

'That's beside the point! Dad wouldn't have wanted anything to do with the whole fiasco, and where is he now, huh? Not in his grave, that's for sure!'

'It's just remains, Carlos. It's not him.'

'My name is Carl! How many times? This is so typical of your attitude. It's all the same excuses you have for never visiting his grave.'

'They're not excuses! I don't _need_ excuses for something like that!'

'You didn't even like him!'

'Well then, maybe _that's_ why I don't go see him much,' said Eduardo. 'Anyway, he's dead. He don't care _who_ stands at his graveside or _where_ his pictures end up!'

Carl scoffed. 'Really? You don't think he's still around somewhere? Isn't it part of your _job_ to believe that?'

Eduardo scowled, and turned away just in time to see Cleopatra's Needle engulfed in a brilliant white light. The force of whatever was happening knocked him off his feet, and everyone else in the vicinity as well. The windscreen of the Ecto-1 exploded, causing both Slimer and Janine to cry out in surprise and shield their faces. As for Jandro, he was thrown right through the air, but he landed safely on top of Carl and was not hurt.

'Oof!' said Carl.

'What's happening?' asked Eduardo.

'I summoned the demon with this Ancient Egyptian spell,' said Jandro, waving his piece of paper around. 'I didn't know it was gonna be like that. Last time I did it, I was on East 10th Street.'

'Are you okay?' asked Eduardo.

'Yeah, I'm cool.'

Jandro got off Carl's prostrate form, and Eduardo ran to join his teammates. The white light had died down, and the demon was now clearly visible, floating some way above the ancient obelisk.

'Who has summoned me?' it hissed.

'Your worst nightmare, Fido!' Garrett jeered up at it. Then he looked at Egon and asked, 'How come it looks like a jackal?'

'Who cares?' said Eduardo. 'Just blast it, man!'

'On three!' said Kylie.

'Wait!' said Roland. 'It's right in front of the obelisk! We'll damage it!'

As he spoke, the demon began sinking back down towards Cleopatra's Needle. Scowling deeply, Eduardo fired a proton stream that very nearly brushed the point of the Needle, and the demon began to writhe and howl in its grip.

'This thing needs dealing with, _right_ now!' Eduardo said. 'Help me out, you guys!'

'Move it away from the Needle!' said Roland.

Eduardo looked put out, but he did his best to manoeuvre the entity away from the ancient monument. When he had moved it a mere fraction, Kylie's stream locked onto the demon, and together they brought it well away from the Needle. By the time Egon, Garrett and Roland fired as well, the demon was quite near the Ecto-1. Janine got out with a ghost trap in her hands, threw it underneath the writhing entity and opened it. At last, the jackal-headed monster was gone.

'In answer to your question, Garrett,' said Egon, as Kylie went to retrieve the trap, 'the jackal was an Ancient Egyptian symbol of death. Anubis, the protector of the dead, had the head of a jackal.'

'But that wasn't him, though, right?' said Garrett.

'Of course not,' said Roland. 'It couldn't have been. The guy's a god!'

'A _nice_ god,' Eduardo added. 'Gods of death aren't evil. Like Mictecacihuatl.'

'Whoa,' said Kylie, clearly impressed.

'I had a little practice on the roof,' said Eduardo, smiling rather sheepishly.

'Egon,' said Garrett, looking uncertainly around. 'What exactly is going on here?'

Egon looked, and saw that men and women in sandals and tunics were dotted around the place, all of them looking lost and confused. A woman turned to the man beside her, and said, ' _Umi sumus_?'

'Oh my,' said Egon. 'It seems that we have restored the entity's original victims... the people living in Alexandria at the time. Fascinating.'

'Why are they here and not in Egypt?' asked Garrett.

'The same reason all those Bermuda Triangle victims were here, I suppose,' said Egon. 'It's a good thing, anyway, because now we can deal with them. Don't worry – I speak Latin. Um... _salvete_!' He waved to the people, and began to approach them. ' _Mihi nomen est_ Professor Spengler...'

'What are you gonna _do_ with all those people?' Carl demanded, marching into the Ghostbusters' midst. 'They're illegal immigrants, you know.'

'I wish you'd look the other way, Carl,' said Kylie. 'You can't exactly ship them all back to Egypt. What would happen to them then?'

'They must be cold,' remarked Jandro, hugging himself in his thick coat.

'Oh, yeah, I have to take you home,' said Carl. 'You know, you could be facing criminal charges.'

'Oh, Carl, have a heart!' said Roland. 'The kid just misses his grandma.'

'And he couldn't have known he was going to make zombies,' added Garrett.

'Jandro,' said Kylie, 'will you be okay? I mean, after all this...'

'Don't worry about me, lady,' said Jandro. 'I'll be fine.'

'You need to get home to your parents,' said Carl. 'Come with me. I won't haul you in, and I'll pretend I didn't see those Greeks, or whoever they are. But,' he added, glaring at Kylie, Roland and Garrett in turn, 'I'd better not find out you drove that car anywhere with no windshield.'

Carl led Jandro off towards his motorcycle. Egon continued talking to the two thousand-year-old Roman Egyptians, watched by Slimer, who couldn't understand why he was scaring the people half to death. Janine looked crossly at the car, while Kylie, Garrett and Roland stood around looking rather lost.

'I guess I'd better call an auto service,' said Roland, getting out his cell phone.

'Where do you suppose Eduardo went?' asked Garrett.

'Why are you asking me?' Kylie said defensively. 'I don't know what's going on with him. How could I?'

* * *

When Janine arrived at the firehouse the next morning, she found Egon sitting at her desk, looking tired and unable to take his hand off the telephone receiver, which was on the hook.

'Egon,' Janine said, going up behind him and putting her hands on his shoulders. 'When was the last time you slept?'

'I couldn't sleep with all those Roman refugees to take care of, Janine,' said Egon. 'I'm just glad there weren't more. The population was much smaller in those days, of course, and I daresay that priest did his work efficiently.'

'Where are they now?' asked Janine.

'They're with an old acquaintance of mine. She's an Egyptologist, but she won't dissect them or anything like that. She'll treat them well.'

'You have old acquaintances in every field, don't you?'

'Most of them,' said Egon. 'This one was rather disappointed that the demon apparently had no victims from the Second Century BC. Just imagine what she might have learned then. I'm wondering whether or not to give her Jandro's spell. He must have been speaking in Ancient Egyptian. Did you hear him, Janine? It was extraordinary! No one knows what Ancient Egyptian sounded like, because it hasn't been spoken for thousands of years. We'll never know what those words mean. Since it's written down in phonetic English, it can't be matched up to any Hieroglyphics. Well, I suppose one could look for similarities in Coptic and modern-day Arabic...'

'Why don't you sleep on it, Egon?' said Janine, pulling him gently to his feet. 'You must have been awake for forty-eight hours!'

'Yes, well... I'd better be going to bed, then.'

* * *

In the firehouse kitchen, Eduardo was constructing a complicated sandwich and having to wave Slimer away, when Kylie came into the room.

'Oh!' she said, sounding utterly astonished. 'You're here!'

'I work here,' said Eduardo.

'I... we were worried about you, after you disappeared yesterday.'

'Yeah, well, I had a fight with Carlos... another one... and sometimes when that happens it's better if I'm not around people for a while. I've calmed down now.'

'Was it about the altar, and...? No, sorry, that's none of my business.'

'He's never liked me putting pictures on the altar,' said Eduardo. 'But then he doesn't like me doing anything. He doesn't even really like me breathing.'

'Do you know if he got that Jandro kid home okay?'

'I didn't ask. He'll have gotten him home all right. Now it's up to Jandro to get over his grandmother. Well, not get over her... get used to it.'

'I might put Grandma Rose on the altar next year,' said Kylie. 'I mean, there probably won't be any more zombies.'

'Probably not,' Eduardo agreed. 'That'd be a nice thing to do.'

'Are _you_ okay?'

'You kept asking me that yesterday.'

'Yeah, well... I want to know. Truthfully.'

'I'm fine,' said Eduardo. 'Really.'

'Okay,' said Kylie, and she started to go. Then suddenly she turned back and flung her arms around Eduardo, pinning his own arms to his sides and bringing a look of astonishment to his face.

'Um,' he said, peering awkwardly down at the top of her head. 'You don't have to.'

'I know,' said Kylie, pressing her cheek to his sternum and squeezing him tightly. Then suddenly she let him go, and avoided looking at him as she turned to leave the room.


End file.
